NEW rules at South Gloucestershire’s public recycling centres will come into effect next week.

The Gazette reported in July how changes to the district’s Sort It centres in Yate, Thornbury, Stoke Gifford and Mangotsfield were approved by councillors to save £150,000 from the authority’s tight waste budget.

Those changes, which include proving residency in South Gloucestershire to gain entry and current winter opening times being extended all-year round, will come into effect on October 1.

The new regulations will see the introduction of a resident vehicle registration scheme and an electronic van permit scheme for all van drivers in a bid to stop people from neighbouring council districts and commercial users from using the centre.

Opening times for all four centres will change to 8.30am to 4.30pm, meaning the Little Stoke site will reopen on a Wednesday.

Chairman of South Gloucestershire Council’s communities committee, Cllr Heather Goddard, said: “Changing opening times at the Sort It centres is the first step to making improvements to the sites and reducing the number of non-residents and traders using the facilities.

“After reviewing the number of visitors to the centres, we found that there were very few people making use of the extended opening hours in the summer. The new opening times reflect the times that most people use the centres and also allows the Little Stoke Sort It Centre to be open seven days a week instead of closing on a Wednesday.”

For more details visit southglos.gov.uk/sortit